Finding You
by Sara Darkotter
Summary: Twenty years is a long time for anything. A long time to search, to hope, to dream, and almost give up. But that's exactly what she did. Yusei's aunt spent twenty years on her search for a nephew she'd barely known. But hope is powerful...
1. Prologue: Zero Reverse

My first 5Ds fic. Yes, my original YGO fans, I will be there soon, I will update, Yami will get his university intro, all that jazz. Just give me faith and PMs bugging me to work on them. Even if they're insulting.

Haru stared at the little dragon toy. It was the Red Eyes Black Dragon. With luck, it wouldn't be cursed with the luck of most of Yusei's stuffed toys. He just tore them apart. His record was a day within receiving.

"I wonder why. What's so different about the dragon ones that he spares them death by baby grip and gums?" she asked herself.

The sky was turning dark. Time to head back.

"Funny. They didn't predict rain." She stared at the dark clouds beginning to amass. "Eh. Well, they're not a hundred precent accurate."

Her phone went off. She pressed a button.

"Haru?" It was her brother's wife, Aika.

"What? You gonna be home late?"

She could see her face on the screen. Aika glanced back, panicked. "No. I'm never coming back. Haru, where are you?"

"Thirty-first and kame. Why? Why aren't you coming? What's going on? Aika?" She pressed a button. It would record everything. This might be important, if only for evidence her sister-in-law was insane.

"Too close. Haru, run! Something... It's gonna destroy everything!"

"What?" She looked back towards the tall building where they were working. It loomed, even from here. Haru was shocked to realize she was running from it, pushing through the crowd. But Yusei was back there! That little infant...

"Just go! Yusei...Yusei will be fine... He took him to the capsule. Haru. Promise you'll find Yusei after."

"After what? Dammit, stop speaking riddles!"

"You'll see. Where are you now?"

"Thirty-first, Battle City district."

"You might be ok now. You-" She looked back. There was someone in the background. "Don't bother, fool! We're all going to die! Your bullet will be wasted!"

Bullet? What? She stopped.

Someone had heard her phone.

"They're showing me their new act." she told their scared face.

Then she ran faster.

Behind her, someone screams. She looked back, tripped, and watched from the ground as a blast of light rips through the building her family was in.

"SORA!" She screams, a painful sound that joins the crowds'. Then, while they stand there, grab the toy she dropped, and continued running. Why'd she do that? It was just a toy.

But she sprinted down the sidewalk anyway. She felt the ground shake and more screams fading, and was joined by more runners following instinct.

Haru was by no means a really athletic girl. She preferred anything-even math- to exercise. But she was sure she ran at least three miles that day out of fear before slowing.

She was in a rich neighborhood. A park. More people were already gathered, a confused, upset mob. Most had been far enough they didn't know what had happened, but they'd felt the earthquake.

One person had come from closer to the disaster. He looked at her.

"It flooded. It detached, part of the edge flooded, and people drowned." He looked in shock.

Haru shook. Now she noticed the call dropped beep in her hand.

"No. Come back. Aika. Aika. Aika!" She was screaming at her phone. But all there was the message prompting her to recall.

"Ai..ka..." She dropped to her knees. "Pick up. Say it's a lie. Say you're there..."

She canceled, calling her parents. They might like to know.

"Haru! Sora won't pick up! Or Aika! They won't pick up!" Her mother kept repeating it, over and over. Haru stared at the dragon toy. Somewhere in that light, her nephew had died, a month old infant. She threw the toy. It landed under a tree.

"I'll... Take... It... Haru. Where are you?"

"I-I'm... In a park... It's... I don't know...I think it's a statue park. The one with... The blue eyes statue..."

Her phone hung up.

"Monthly call limit reached. Please note that you will be charged extra for any continued calls or texts," the robotic voice told her.

She stared at the screen. If her parents wanted to continue talking, they would call. Should she call? They must be crying. Their children were dead.

They would come pick her up, when they were ready.

Hours later, a security woman, one of many guiding people home, found her still on the ground.

"Want me to take you home?"

"It isn't home. I live in another city."

"Where are your parents?"

"They're at... My brother's..." She choked up. It wasn't her brother's apartment anymore.

"Come on." The woman pulls her upright, and begins to walk to a motorcycle. On a whim, Haru grabs the red eyes toy. The soft fabric is a comfort.

"Where's your brother?"

"Dead."

"Ohhh..." The woman hugs her. "It'll be ok, girl. It will..."

They drove to the tall building. It was dark in so windows, places where no one would return to ever again.

Inside, her parents were sitting on the couch, staring out the window. They barely noticed as she sat with them. What were they looking for?

It struck her as she heard the TV. It was listing the names of missing, and names of dead. They were waiting for their son.

"He's not coming," she told them.

As she spoke, they said his name.

"Fudo Sora-missing, presumed dead. His wife, Fudo Aika, also presumed dead. Their infant son, Fudo Yusei. Status undecided." The man spoke in a dead tone. There were dried tear trails on his cheeks. He'd been doing this for hours. Just reading names and whether to look for them returning.

"I'm going to bed." She walked down the short hall, passing the nursery. The door was open. Inside, it was brightly painted, blue with clouds. She'd helped do it.

Shelves had toys and books and supplies. The crib had a mobile hung over it. The mobile had five dragons, flying nowhere.

"_See, this one is Stardust Dragon, this is Black Rose Dragon, Ancient Fairy Dragon..." Her brother named each one to a giggling Yusei. He probably didn't understand a single sound he made, but the sight of the dragons spinning as they were pushed must've amused him._

"_Well, bedtime, my child." He picked up Yusei, rocking him gently till his eyes closed._

"_He snores loud, for a little baby."_

"_Really? You think you're quieter?" _

"_Girls don't snore!"_

"_That's what you think."_

That had been last night.

She slumped onto the carpet. It was green and soft and thick. She buried her fingers in it.

Someone walked in.

"They asked you to watch Yusei." It was her mother. Haru opened her eyes, turning. How did she know?

"You should've! That little infant was my grandson! He was worth more than you, than anything you considered worth more than babysitting him!" She seized a handful of hair. "You stupid-little-bitch!" She gave her a slap for each word, driving them home. "Why couldn't you-the useless one-die? He did something with his life! You just take up space and money!"

Another slap. Then she let go, Haru dropped to the carpet.

"What's this?" She picked up the red eyes stuffed toy.

"It's one of Yusei's toys," Haru whispered.

"Why is it on the floor?"

Haru glanced at the other items on the carpet.

"I don't know. I don't-"

"You were going to steal it!"

Another slap. The toy was tossed aside, and her mother left.

Haru lay on the carpet. Both her cheeks stung, especially along a certain strip. Eventually, she stood, crying, and stumbled to a round mirror on the wall.

She was bleeding where he mother's wedding ring had scratched her.

"She's only upset. Mama's never hit me. I'll wake up, and she'll apologize. Or it'll be a dream. Please let this be a dream. I'll wake up. I'll wake up. I'll wake up..."

But she didn't.

"Only grandparents are supposed to die when you're thirteen."

"So you want them to die too?"

Her mother was back in the doorway. Haru tried to back up, but she was against a wall.

"No! Mama! I didn't mean that! I-" Another slap made her head ring and spin.

"You cursed them, didn't you? You cursed them so they would die! You didn't want them around!" Mama's lips curled up into a cruel smile. "You just want attention, so you became a witch. Well you'll see. It won't work." She turned to leave.

"I-"

"Oh, I'll feed and house you. I'm not **cruel**. But that's all the attention you'll get." Mama giggled, exiting.

This wasn't a dream. Even in the deepest depths of her nightmares, mama had never been cruel.

This was reality. Mama was crazy.

She crouched for a while, wiping away blood and tears so they wouldn't stain the carpet.

Maybe if she found Yusei! Surely they were rescuing people! She could find him, and mama would apologize!

She stood.

In the mirror was another girl. One with pale cheeks made paler by the blood dripping from three slashes on her cheeks, one with short black hair messed up, soaked with blood and tears and stuck to face, one with fear firmly implanted in green eyes. Someone new.

Haru reaches up, and so does the girl, wiping hair from her face.

"I'm a wreck. But so are others. No one will mind."

She stepped out, grabbed her shoes and ran out, putting on her sneakers.

The city was in panic. Quiet, tense panic, so not like anybody was rioting, but it made her panic easier as she ran down the streets, screaming her baby nephew's name like he could come running to it.

Eventually she came to Battle City district. What was left of it. Half of it was gone. Across the water was the rest.

A man and his wife stood nearby.

"Aren't they going out there? Aren't they going to get them?"

The man blinks, looks at her. "No. They said that anybody over there would be dead, or injured."

"Aren't the injured going to get help?"

"No." The man looks ready to break down in tears.

"Well I will." She dove into the water. It's an instant shock of cold, trying to tear the air from her lungs and the strength from her limbs.

'Yusei. Yusei. Yusei.' She used his name to guide her strokes.

She wasn't sure how far she got, because something slapped into her. A body? No... It'd had a finned hand... Haru panicked, turning back. Or tried to. She probably just struggled in place.

The finned hand grabbed her and pulled her back.

"You ok, honey?" the woman asked. She was pregnant.

"I'm fine." She looked back at the water. Nothing now. Maybe a psychic duelist had caused that. They sometimes did odd things.

Her cheeks stung, the rest of her felt frozen. Even her insides felt frozen.

"I'll never get him back."

"Get back who?" the woman asked.

"My nephew. He-He was only a baby!" She started to cry. The woman cried with her.

The man looked down at her sadly. "You should head back. Your parents must be worried."

Haru nodded. Then she ran back. Through the streets, over a fence, dodging security. Something must've happened.

Back in the apartment, her parents were packing.

Her father pointed to the room she'd been in. "Go pack. We're leaving."

She did. The better she behaved, the more mama would like her.

In the nursery, there was her phone, still lying on the carpet.

The call! She'd recorded the call! She scooped it up eagerly.

Then listened horrified to Aika talk, and her own responses.

In the end, she screamed as she suddenly turned into a stain of blood coating everything just before it went white.

"End of call," the robot voice told her.

Just a stain of blood on a screen. That's no way to end.

Insides iced over, she put her phone in her still damp pocket in her shorts, and began to pick up, not knowing why. She just had to pick up, pick up, pick up. It had to be clean.

At last she came to red eyes sitting on a shelf. She hugged it. Next to it was one of many pictures scattered around the room, pinned to everything. It was her, lying on the floor with a victory sign, while Yusei gripped a mini screwdriver and stared at a laptop screen. 'Mission accomplished' was stamped in red caps in english in the upper right corner. She tore it off the wall. Then she smuggled them into her things.

Her father tried to close the door to Sora's and Aika's room.

"Please don't! Father! They might come back, and the doors lock and they might have lost their key!"

It was ridiculous. They were dead. But here she was, pleading like there was a chance they were alive.

He released the knob, and the door quietly clicked shut.

"Father!" And suddenly, her father was crying. He was hugging her and crying and Haru cried too, wishing it was some other family that this had happened to, that they'd suddenly decided today that they were going to stay home, that she'd decided to babysit Yusei instead of being stupid, so many wishes.

"Come. Let's...go," mama said.

They walked out the door, father locking the door behind them.

It was quiet as the walked down the halls, like you would expect at one AM, but lights were on.

In the lobby, father placed the key on the desk. Haru pawned it. She wasn't a witch, she was a thief now. But Sora and Aika had bought that apartment recently. She wasn't going to let someone else get it.

Others were leaving, it seemed, but not too many. The city was frozen, an odd mix of lights on and off, tension and mourning.

"_Haru. Promise you'll find Yusei after."_

* * *

Tada. Anyway, if she seems mary sueish, flash me the red card review and if there are certain areas only, point them out. Also, my grammar, and any spelling mistakes.

To answer this question before I get it: That thing was a mercreature plot-device. It will probably never exist or be mentioned again. Happy?

Please review. Good, bad, hate its guts, tell me.


	2. Chapter One: Kit

I put up the first chapter and waited for reactions. Then I asked the two people who favorited if they thought I should continue. They said yes. So enjoy.

I'm very sorry that I wrote over 6,700 words on this one chapter. But there's a lot of build up the (melodramatic) climax.

* * *

Here she was, fifteen, a full-blown thief, and deciding to run away. Haru sighed quietly.

Mama hadn't so much ignored her as taken out her anger and pain on her. Right now she could feel the bruise on her arm and the one on her stomach aching something awful. She could've dodged the second one.

"Other shirt, jeans, spare jacket, money stolen from mama, stolen food. Spare sneakers that father got me."

She zipped up the large backpack. Done.

She had no certain place in mind, though north sounded good. It was far away from New Domino, the scene of her first crime. Every day she prayed to whatever gods may exist that Yusei forgive her for causing him to die.

Creeping out, she paused by a room. Her little brother, barely a year and a half, slept inside.

He woke as she leaned over the cradle. Then he giggled. Haru didn't really interact with him. Mama would get upset, and besides. She didn't want her bad luck to rub off on him.

"See you one day. Maybe." Taking a locket off her neck-yes stolen, from a small overpriced shop-, she tucked it high up on the room trim. In it was a picture each of her, Sora, Yusei, him, all photoshopped into two picture sets. He might need them.

"Remember this day, little brother. The day your sister proved her love for you by running away."

She left the house as she always came and went-quiet.

Haru was no longer the gym-hating, soft girl she was. Now she had muscles, she was one of the best in gym and ran like the wind itself. Not that she had a choice. If she got caught shoplifting, she had to run fast to get away, find a spot to defuse the criminal mark.

It had become this new thing in New Domino, to mark your criminals with a pretty (painful) tattoo that tracked them, and it had caught on to other cities-like hers. She'd learned even before she got hers how to deal with them. It had been a matter of survival. If she was going to shop-lift, she needed a cure for risks.

At least the thief mark was small, easily hidden under make-up.

The dark street provided cover as she ran down it. It was too late to expect any buses, so she'd have to get as far away as possible by foot. Her feet pounded the concrete.

Pound.

"_Why do you wear that black armband?"_

Pound.

"_I heard she lost her brother in Zero-Reverse."_

Pound.

"_I hear she's a witch, she cursed them so that they would die."_

Pound.

"_I hear she killed her nephew. Just murdered him."_

Pound pound pound.

"_Why do her parents still keep her?"_

"_They're too merciful."_

"_She has a thief mark! She'll take my things and kill me!"_

Pound.

"_You don't deserve to live, thief-witch."_

Every insult, every rumor, every line directed at her that had soured and turned cruel somehow, she heard it. There was too much here. Too much to her name.

Fudo Haru, thief-witch, child-killer.

She would become someone else. A new name was a new slate. Her old one was imprinted too deep to erase.

Hawkins sounded good. She'd read it in a book once.

Hawkins Amaya. Homeless thief.

Hawkins Amaya ran down the sidewalk, free.

She decide Hawkins needed to be older. Old enough to go almost anywhere. Eighteen was good.

Hawkins Amaya was an eighteen year old, shortish girl who was homeless and a thief. Hold onto your wallets.

**[Time skip to keep you interested]**

It was a city. A large city. A large city that had a very nice gang ruling part of it. Well, maybe "very nice" isn't a good term. More like "ruthless with an occasional heart."

Perfect place to hide. Of course, how to deal with the fact that they were all male...

So she went with the stupid approach. A night they gathered, she walked in.

She'd come prepared. Hair cut short into what was called a "fairy bob" ("I look like Tinkerbell...") and a knife in a pocket.

"Hey look guys. A girl. What'cha want, girl?"

"She has a thief mark. Maybe she wants someone to steal away for a few hours!" They cracked up.

One, the leader, wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "What do you want? We're only kind for so long, you know."

"I want to join."

Instant silence.

"That's a stupid request to make, you know. The test to get in-"

"Is to survive while three others try to beat you up. I know. That happened last night. You couldn't have beaten someone more rich? His wallet was almost empty."

A smattering of weak laughter.

"You know the risks then."

"I raid the product."

"Well then. Since you're a girl, we'll make things a little easier. One instead of three, and we won't smash your innards if you lose. Instead, you pay us another way."

"You're all sex deprived, then? Won't your girlfriends be mad?"

A conjoined wince from many.

"Talk as ya fight, would ya?" someone called.

A man stepped forward. "Well I guess you're pretty," he muttered, "But the scars ruin that face." He swung his left fist. It hit just below the ribcage. She winced, but stood firm.

"T-hanks. Wasn't easy to get those." She jumped back, and a right grazed her front when it would had hit her side. "Took a diamond-studded wedding ring and everything." She kicked his inner calf and threw one towards his jaw.

He caught it and twisted her arm.

"_Don't step near him again! You'll kill my son! I know you will!" Mama twisted her arm._

"Crazy parent?"

"Yep." She ducked and spun. Untwisted, she pulled free and punched his stomach twice.

"Ahhiii..." he hissed. "Not... bad."

"That's gonna leave a mark," someone whispered.

She kicked him in the crotch. Down he went. She stepped back.

"Was that cheating?"

"Guess not..." Eleven guys looked at him in sympathy.

"Do I get to join?"

The leader nodded slowly, still watching the man on the floor. "I'm an honest man, girl."

"Hey, now we're thirteen."

She shrugged. "Eh, well bad luck for you then."

"We should call her Kit."

"Actually, what is your name?"

She stared at the floor. "...Amaya."

Laughter. "What kinda name is that? Night rain?" They laughed harder.

"The kind of name a mother thinks up." She looked at the ceiling.

"Eh. Don't worry about us." A man with dark hair and friendly brown eyes threw an arm around her shoulder. "We're guys. They call me Magician, 'cause it's my favorite monster type. Can you duel, Kit-san?"

"I'm about average."

He nodded. "I see... Well, you see, we're not just fists. Some gangs around here are duel gangs, so we have to be great with cards too."

The leader mostly seemed intent on talking to the others. "Magician. You're with Sonic's group. You guys get to take the Warrior Gang."

"Yeah, just giving Kit-san the low-down. So hey, how old are you?"

"Nineteen." So now even Hawkins Amaya was lying about her age.

"Funny. You look younger. And you're a bit short."

"It's something related to genes. My grandma was short." Actually, no she wasn't. Neither of them had been. She'd had a great-grandmother somewhere that was. Her grandfather on her dad's side was a bit undersized, but even he'd been 5'5.

"Eh, whatever."

"You. Kit. You'll learn how we take on the regular guys. Here." The guy handed her a flexible band. On it were four spikes. Spiked knuckles. Much more deadly than brass ones.

She slid them on her right hand.

"Now what?"

"You come. But be quiet and only do what we tell you.

That simple? Really?

Half an hour later, she was standing in an alley with blood on her fist as a guy keeled over.

He was probably dead, what with slash marks (She'd missed. The spike tips hadn't) on his face, the bleeding eye, and four puncture wounds in his stomach. However, she wasn't upset. Actually, she was exhilarated.

"Nice work Kit. Didn't need the undercut, but you got him." The leader, who she had learned they called Rook or Rook-sama, ("Meh.") patted her head. Then he took the dead body, dragging it along the alleyway to the now devastated gang and tossed it at them.

"Here you go. Keep your friend."

Kit joined her group in their celebrations, glad to actually be in the midst of something, then left, trickling off like the younger members. Two of them were actually in school. Roja, (They didn't know what it was, but it sounded cool and they heard it was spanish) and Celt. He had this obsession with everything celtic. He even had this tattoo on his arm.

She curled up next to a dumpster under a section of cardboard with her backpack.

"You really going to sleep there?"

She looked at Magician. "I'm homeless. Where else am I going to? In a palace of featherbeds?"

He sighed. "Look. And take this offer seriously. You can stay at my place."

She tensed.

"I have a carpet and heating, I'm sure that should work. But if you want the couch you'll have to take a shower."

Haru closed her eyes, sighing. "I...guess so." She stood. "And that shower had better be on the promise list. I haven't had one in forever."

He laughed. "Two days is not forever."

"Try more like at least a week and a half, at least. I've been using drinking fountains to keep my face and hands pretty clean, but I swear if my hair was longer it could've been used to drop world oil prices."

He had moved away.

"Ok then..."

It was a small place. It was an apartment with a living room, a wall with a microwave and a sink below it, a minifridge tucked next to that, a couch dominating one wall, a balcony, and two doors besides the entrance. One was a small bedroom, ("Don't go in there, or I swear I'll break your wrist.") and the other a cramped bathroom. But it had a shower.

"If you have laundry to do, downstairs in the basement is washing machines. But you have to stay with em."

The shower was heaven, cleaning away all that dirt. And she became even more grateful for the short hair. It was just long enough that it couldn't be called a boy's cut, which made it hard to grip in a fight, but also was so much easier to clean!

She relaxed, for the first time in years.

**[No. 3: The larch. The larch. The...larch.**

**Kidding. Time-skip]**

She was now (technically) sixteen, thought to be twenty and really didn't care. It was a day. So what?

Magician hadn't helped things with his "Happy vaginal exist day!" exclamation. The bastard made it sound so dirty.

But either way, they all wanted to drag her out to a bar, pretend she was drinking age and help her down a few drinks in celebration.

"Who's willing to stay sober?"

Zero hands of thirteen. Then one creeping half up.

"We still get **a** drink, right?"

She shrugged. "Yeah." Best she could hope for.

The creeping hand finished its journey.

"Aww... Poor Magician. You're not allowed to stagger around and do your British imitation." Sonic laughed.

"My what imitation?" He got this blank look.

"Guess you don't remember it."

Either way, forty minutes later, she was in a bar, sipping a beer and keeping herself from even considering buying another by letting her fingers constantly feel the edge of a spike.

On the TV above the bar was some news thing. Something happening in New Domino, blah blah blah. A guy washed up on the beach, missing his arm, named Rex Godwing-Win. Not wing. She pressed her thumb against the spike a little harder.

"It's that place."

"Hm?"

"That place." Magician (She still hadn't learned his real name) nodded to the screen. "Where Zero-Reverse happened. You hear about that? I heard it was some unholy natural disaster."

She spit out her mouthful, laughing. The cruel undercurrent stung even her ears. It pulled the gang's attention.

"You really think...Zero-Reverse...Was a NATUAL DISASTER?"

He glared at the wall. "What, you know anything better?"

"I was there."

A crowd leaned forward, willing to listen. Nothing like a good story and a beer.

"So what happened? Where were you? Was there a warning?"

"I was in the downtown area, buying something for my nephew."

"That area ended up in Satellite, didn't it?" Sonic asked.

Haru nodded. "I was on the fringes. I did get a warning, but only because my sister-in-law called."

Laughter. "What'd she do?" A man crowed. "Predict the future?"

"Don't laugh at a dead woman. She worked in the old Domino Moment."

Moment had been hit the hardest. A crater. Things got deathly quiet.

"She was speaking in riddles, saying something was going to happen and I should run and at some point she turned to someone off-camera and told them there was no point in shooting, they'd all be dead in minutes."

"Why'd she call you?"

Might as well. She stared at the beer. "If it turned out I was younger than you all thought, what would you do?"

"What are you getting at, Kit?" Rook crossed his arms.

"Yeah."

"I was thirteen when this happened."

Awkward silence.

Magician carefully pried the beer from her grip. "No more for the sixteen year old."

"Now continue the damn tale!"

She closed her eyes, and the scene sprang to mind, always sharp in her memory.

"I looked back when someone in the crowd screamed. A glow growing in the Moment building exploded outward, shredding and melting the building to nothing, and everything for blocks around it. And then I just ran. People screamed again, blinded by the light, others by fear. The ground rocked in an earthquake. Later I found out it tore a district in half in a few quick seconds, hundreds and thousands of people plunged below to earth and water that was pouring in. Coast areas flooded in seconds, and probably most of those in Satellite drowned. Those left. I learned most of this from talk at a park where I joined other survivors. I was too panicked to notice anything."

"What happened at home?"

"I didn't go home. I went back to the place that had been my brother's apartment and met people who carried the faces and identities of my parents." The news broke away to do some commercials. "That's me." She pointed to the missing ad for Fudo Haru. "That's it. Story's over, go home." She snatched back the beer, downed it and left. The crowd parted before her.

Back at Magician's apartment, she sat on the floor and cried. She'd never had to tell that story before. No one asked. She'd never considered telling.

It was so hard. The tale sparked to her tongue so easily but brought back the pain. Already she could feel mama's ring slashing her cheeks.

"Lose anyone else, besides your sis-in-law?"

She buried her face in her arms so Magician wouldn't see her tears. The Shadows didn't cry!

"If you're going to break down and tell me, better do it fast. I had a few extras down at the bar."

She sighed. "F-fine. You want to know? I lost everybody I cared about. My brother died, his wife, their month old nephew. My mother lost her mind, my father his willingness. Everyone. I haven't even heard from any other relatives in years."

Magician hugged her. It was sudden enough that she lashed out, hitting his arm.

"Ok," he whispered. "Maybe more than a few."

Then he kissed her. Drunk and now suddenly in love syndrome. Even so, it was...nice. She was upset when it was over. Now if her brain hadn't melted, **obviously** she would have done something. Really.

Instead she babbled like an idiot for two minutes straight.

"Heh. Sleep tight." He wandered to his room.

Sleep tight? She was in the same house as a guy who was drunk and kissed her! What else might he try?

Ok, he wasn't quite _that_ bad. But still.

Either way, with her thoughts a muddled mix of her old family and that kiss, she didn't sleep well.

* * *

She woke from this doze wondering if he had a hangover. She peeked into his room.

"F*ck...off..." Something shuddered as it hit the door.

"Thanks for the knife." She pulled it free.

He peered up at her, eyes squinting, then blinked once. "Hey Haru..."

She closed the door quietly. Locating the necessary items of bucket, bread and turning on the coffee maker (_"Remember sis. There are few other good cures for hangovers than bread and coffee. Except that stuff that's made for indigestion."_) and carefully opened the door.

"You... closed the door."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"But why?"

She sighed. "Just eat the damn bread."

He did, watching her. "So you know this stuff how? You don't drink a lot, do you?"

She sat on the floor, relaxing against the bed. "My brother taught me. It was during his high school days, when he would come from a party late Friday early Saturday, add saké to his coffee when he got up and would be fine in time for school on Monday. And I was his little helper, making sure mom and dad didn't know he had been drunk, turning on the coffee maker, locating any bottles of indigestion cures, opening the window for him if it was bad enough."

"Opening the window?"

"If he was going to throw up. The bathroom was ruled by the fact that it was next to our parents rooms."

"Oh. How old were you?"

"Six to eight. Isn't that a _great_ thing to teach a kid?"

"You actually did that."

"Sure. I didn't see what was wrong with it. Besides, he got over it."

"The hangovers or the partying?"

"Both actually. He woke up one day, threw up out the window and said "I am never doing that again. Ugh. What did I eat?" And thus was the end of party-brother, the saké coffee man."

"Oh." He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Did you know your voice actually gets deeper when you talk to males?"

She blinked. "It does?"

"Yeah. It's weird. Maybe you're just trying to blend in."

"Our uniform is dark cameo and black. It's hard not to."

He leaned over, licking her cheek. She gulped, blushing. "Uh..."

He grinned. "You're so cute. Especially when you come up with these lines."

She swallowed again. "You know we have at least a four year age gap, right?"

"So?"

"Should I break your arm?"

He sighed, flopping back into his rest position. "You're too serious. Really. Lighten up, get a date."

"Stop hinting. Also, Shadow law says we can't anyway." She stood and left. She had four hours of sleep to catch up on.

* * *

Which she got, plus an extra couple hours. Then the phone rang.

"Whatever it is, don't want it."

"Hey Kit."

"Oh. Hi... Rook."

"If you were asleep, you're going to have to adjust your sleep schedule."

"Why? W...Why are you calling, Rook?"

"I figured I'd break it to you where there aren't people listening in. Because we now know you are sixteen and you admitted this in a bar, we are now obligated to sign you up for a school. Congratulations, you are signed up at the same high school as Roja and Celt. You start in a week."

"Rook-sama."

"Yes?"

"I f*cking hate you."

"Thanks, hate you too. See ya, Kit."

She sighed. It could be worse. After all. Two gang members would be there too.

"Who wassat?"

"Rook."

"Bout what?" He yawned.

"Guess who's going to school?"

"Aww. Poor Kit."

She twitched at his grin. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

* * *

She really should. They were going to find out eventually.

But what if mama picked up?

Well, she's have to risk it.

"Hello?"

It was Mama. She swallowed.

"Um. Hello...Mama..."

"Haru." Her mother growled it out. "You decided to call? Did you know a strange woman called earlier, telling us she'd seen you? In a bar?"

"I-"

"This could reflect on my son one day! You horrible...little...whore!"

Haru closed her eyes. "Mothe-"

"I'm not your mother! You have no connection to my bloodline! I'm disowning you! Do you hear me?"

"Mom-"

The phoneline clicked dead.

* * *

She stared at the looming building. Already, she could see her old school rise again in her memories.

"Come on. Let's get this over with. I have sleep and a job to get to you know."

Magician gripped her shoulder, almost dragging her to the front office. Haru grasped the messenger bag he'd dug up somewhere.

"Can I help you?" The secretary seemed a little aloof, which Haru couldn't blame her for.

"Yes, this is your new student, Fudo Haru."

The woman sighed. "I see. Well, here's your schedule, your homeroom teacher will assign you someone to show you around. Your locker is number 214, on the second floor, hallway two. Here is the combination."

The hallways were numbered. What the heck.

"Well, have fun." Magician left.

"Young Fudo-san, please do remember to wear the school uniform from now on."

Haru nodded to the woman. She was only doing her job.

The papers were almost shaking as she slipped through the crowds, trying to be avoided. So many people. Once they learned her name, it would be so easy to look her up. Find the rumors...

No. Her gang would protect her. She didn't need to worry.

The bell rang as she got upstairs.

Hallway two had a sign that read, very helpfully (And classically graffitied) Hallway 2 **b or not 2 b**.

The guy in the locker next to hers looked her up and down and said "You know there's a gang that'll kick your ass for wearing their colors?"

"I do. I'm part of it." She slammed the door. She had only opened it to check there was nothing left from a previous occupant.

The guy looked at her, then smirked. He thought she was lying. But he would see. The witch wou-No. That was her old thinking. She wasn't a witch.

The teacher looked her up and down as she stood outside the room. Then he sighed. "Class, meet the newest addition. Fudo Haru. Would you like to tell us abou-yes?"

"Why isn't she wearing the uniform?"

"Yeah! She's dressed like Ken!"

"Shouldn't he be pissed she's dressed like that?" someone muttered in the front.

There was Roja, leaning back in the chair. "Hey Kit."

The class went quiet. What Roja had just established was that he knew her, she had a nickname, and that she just might be part of his gang.

"Yo."

"So..." The teacher coughed nervously. Even he swayed to the gangs in this city. "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? What's your family like?"

"Dead."

If only there were crickets.

"Well then... Why don't you sit down?"

She sat next to a window. Once class began, she found herself biting her tongue. She gripped her pencil so hard her knuckles turned white. By the time the end of her first class came, it had cracked. She packed up quickly, shoving through the group at the door. In the hall, she ran. Haru sat in a corner.

"They'll go away. They'll go away..." She buried her face in her bag. But in her mind, the memories persisted.

"Oi, Kit. Your class is that way."

She whimpered.

"Kit?"

"I'm not a witch..." she muttered.

"The hell?" Roja pulled her upright.

She couldn't quite see clear. Maybe it was a panic-attack? Were they like this?

Either way, her stomach hurt, she felt numb and faint and she just wanted to leave.

"What's with the panting?"

"I...I..."

"What's wrong? Really?"

"It's like my old school. How long will it take? Before the rumors make it here? Before I can't walk down the hall without hearing witch, or thief or..."

"It's alright. Even if anybody says anything, I'll deal with it." He punches his palm for emphasis.

Shaking, she followed him to the next class.

"Sorry Teacher. She got lost."

* * *

It took exactly three days and four hours for the rumors to spring into school light.

"Hey you. Haru. I looked you up during my free period. Aren't you a witch?"

It was ten o'clock. The class she didn't have Celt or Roja.

"What about it?"

"And you cursed your brother and his wife so they'd die in Zero-Reverse."

"Why?"

"And some tales say you killed your nephew. Others say you cursed him so he'd die in Zero-Reverse too."

"Yes, well I've heard you've been pregnant nine times. So that once a month or over your entire high school career?"

She stumbled back. "That's a lie!"

"I'll take back my rumor if you take back yours."

"If it's not true then why was it all over the internet?"

"Because like you, people like to spread rumors. It's human nature to pass around cruelty." She stared at her hand. Where her nails were digging into her palm was starting to bleed.

"Hmph."

The girl stalked off, but the damage was done.

* * *

People were avoiding her, fear filling them. She began to have daily panics, with it being something as simple as her name.

And worse, the world was turning, heading towards summer. That wasn't too bad. It meant summer vacation, those school-free weeks.

It was the heat. Like a building storm, temperatures barely dropped at night, and their gang uniform was dark colors. Since everybody else was male, they could walk around without shirts on, no problem. But she was female and socially forbidden to do so. She didn't get that. You could walk around in bikinis no problem, but bras, which covered more, weren't allowed?

This obviously meant a lot of sweat soaked shirts by nights end.

"You know, no one would care if you wore a sports bra." Rook said once.

She growled, a little.

There was another problem with summer. It was supposed to be lovers season, and she was suffering a romance situation.

You see, her relationship with Magician had progressed, but somehow, it always felt like they were balancing on the line between friends and lovers.

"_You can't go your life balancing on the lines. Pick a side. If you want to switch, you can, but don't stay on that compromise, that indecision. There are very, very few exceptions."_

"_But why can't I, Sora? I hate picking sides!"_

_He patted her head. "Can you balance between life and death?"_

"_You're being dramatic again!"_

_He laughed._

She remembered this on the hottest day of the summer so far. Hundred degrees at night.

So she broke down and came to the three-nights-a-week-at-least meeting in just a dark blue sports bra.

"Uhh... Hi..."

"My face is up here."

"...Attached to a great body."

She was, in fact, rather sculpted. All the exercise did that. But it's not like she was more muscled than anybody there. What made the difference?

Boobs, apparently. Males...

" Ninja, you'd think you'd never seen a girl."

"...I've seen plenty. None looked good as her..."

"Keep talking that way and I'll force you do bend over backwards and suck your own dick." She examined her nails as she issued this threat.

She was instantly given space.

"Well, now we've had our nightly threat, let's get down to business. Sonic, Cig, Magician, Raven, Graveyard, Ninja, Celt, I know you guys got duel shift last time, but Markers tried to invade again. Everyone else, you're with me. We get to deal with some new guys. Bring your disks, just in case."

Haru sighed happily. Another night, with a chance they wouldn't know her famous line.

* * *

Which they didn't.

"Right or left?" Her fists in her pockets.

"Really, if you're in here, they must be desperate." The man pulled out a knife, slashing out. It nicked her arm.

"Was that the question?"

"What?"

"Oh, you're deaf. Riiight, oor, leeft." She drew out the words loudly.

"Erg... Not that it matters. Right."

The spiked knuckles hit his chest.

"Should've picked left. Oh, don't over-react. You'll live, if the wounds don't fester."

The man whimpered, barely risking breath.

She stepped on his chest on her way over to Rook.

"Done, Rook-sama."

"Too bad he was so tall. I like to see you scratch their faces."

"If you say so, sir. It gets boring though."

She whirled.

"Right or left?"

"Left." The man swung his fist, she ducked up close and smashed her left into his jaw-from underneath.

On her left: brass knuckles with *** K I T **put on them.

"Smarter than your friend then, but not by much."

They heard the police sirens and fighting paused. Sometimes the security did something. Looks like this was that day.

"This ain't over."

"Get some people who are more entertaining, would you? This was boring," Haru said.

"But we get here, we walk this border." They talked around her.

"You can't walk the dividing lines in life. You get hit by the cars changing lanes," she whispered.

* * *

She collapsed on the couch, while Magician stood in the center of the floor.

"God, that's tiring." She began to bandage her arm. "The heat just takes all your energy..."

"I...know..."

She looked at him from under her eyelashes. He was standing there, head tilted back, and sweat glinting on every visible inch of skin.

'You can't walk the lines.' Which meant she had to choose. It was a simple and quick decision. After all, the sexual tension had been killing her these last few months.

"Hey, does the air conditioner work?"

"Only...in my room...You can't...have it..."

Finished with her arm, she slid off the couch. When she linked her arms around his neck, he started.

"Wha-"

"We're going to need it." She trailed a finger down his chest.

"Ok Kit. Now you're asking for it..."

She smiled at him, winking. "Well? Or do I spell it out?"

He grinned.

**[Two and a half months later]**

She really just felt weird. Not in a really bad way or a good way, just weird.

Haru got up, had a shower, got dressed, all that. At first, she felt nauseous, but it passed. She'd worked hard to get into those advanced classes, and she didn't skip for anything.

She passed the school cafeteria... And nearly threw up.

She ran into the girls bathroom, leaning over a sink. Ugh... Her throat stung... Eww... She could taste it...

A girl was sitting on the floor by a sink, knees to her chest and head on her knees.

Haru was suddenly swept by worry. She didn't worry about people. Ever. She wasn't compassionate.

"What's wrong with you?"

The teen looked at her. Angry and upset.

"What's wrong? My life."

Haru surprised herself again by sitting next to her. "So what happened?"

"Oh, so the witch cares?"

She shrugged. "Good deed of the month."

"Oh." She leaned against the wall. "You really want to know?"

"Well I asked."

"I'm pregnant," she muttered.

Haru thought about that. _"Early symptoms of pregnancy may include morning sickness, which is blah blah blah, emotional imbalances and extremities, strange food tastes, blah blah blah..."_

"Oh god."

"What? There something wrong with that? Huh?"

Haru shook her head. "No... But I think I am..."

"Am what?"

"Pregnant. Goddammit."

"Well at least you aren't me." She sounded bitter.

"How's that..." 'And I swear it's like condoms never existed, way we acted. Or backfires...'

"My boyfriend was a liar. A complete liar!"

"How so?" She gripped her bag.

"He told me he was nineteen. He's twenty-eight. He told me I was his only one. He has three other girlfriends and a wife. I'm tempted to call her and tell her all about this."

"So how'd you find out about them?"

"His cell phone. He had it all planned out, when he was supposed to be with who on the stupid thing!"

Haru stared at her. "I'm sorry."

"That all you gonna say?"

"What else is there?"

"You're going to go tell everyone now! I know it! I shouldn't have told you!"

Haru sighed. Emotional is right. "I've had to put up with rumors since I was thirteen, and you think I'm going to start them? Really?"

She was crying. "So what's your name again?"

"M-Maya."

"Don't worry, Maya-sempai! We can worry and swear them out together."

"You're carrying the twelfth grade math text book and I haven't seen you in any of the advanced student classes. Therefore, you're my elder."

Maya smiled slightly. "You're observant. They teach you that in your gang?"

Haru stared at the florescent ceiling lights. "Only helped it. My brother taught me."

"You were really attached to your brother?"

"Yeah."

* * *

_A little boy. His hair is black, flaring away from his hair like spider or crab legs. Blond highlights join them. _

_He's staring at a picture, torn from something. Maybe from a book or magazine?_

_At this moment, he looks up at her._

"_Who are you?"_

_Like her brother, all over again. _

"_I said-"_

"_Yusei! Who are you talking to?"_

"_Martha! Ther-"_

She woke up, panting. Yusei. Yusei was alive!

Another reason to leave. She couldn't stay in the gang. She'd broken a rule, and was pregnant. Two things that would make sure she was forced to leave.

"Time to go."

They got dressed and left. She glanced back at the door. Right below the door number was Satou, his surname. She printed it in her memory.

The second she stepped into the warehouse, she expected to have doubts. But instead was resolve. She had to. Before it was too late.

She walked over to Rook.

"I want to leave."

"Hm. To where?" He continued staring at the map.

"I want to leave the gang."

He slowly stood up. "Now Kit. Do you really? You know what that means..."

"I leave the way I came. I get beat up."

"Yes. Now really. What is so important that you must leave?"

"It's a family issue, sir."

"What sort of family? You were disowned, I heard that phone call." Magician said.

"My little brother, my older brother's memory, my nephew who may be alive, and...Someone else."

Rook sighed. "You really want to."

"I thought it over, Rook-sama. I know what I'm doing."

He closed his eyes. "You were one of the better members. No enhancements guys."

Brass knuckles were left behind, other weapons dropped so no one would be tempted.

She put her hands in her jacket pockets, shielding her lower abdomen.

Magician threw the first punch.

Blows rained on her and she did her best to dodge, but she was surrounded and this was the exit.

She was struck in the stomach twice. Both low. She had pulled her hands from her pockets after the first out of habit, but stopped herself from swinging. She was forbidden in these fights. And that's how she got the second.

The last punch came and she dropped to the floor. The concrete was cool and soothing.

"Ok guys...We have things to do." He began to assign groups, then pulled Magician over.

"You can stay here if you want. I know you were attached to her and... Damn. Might as well say it. She's probably dying."

That would be favorable. The ground was always so nice. Maybe she could get buried without a coffin...

"Let's go. Magician will stay here."

She was very definitely bleeding. Thankfully not her nose. But maybe her arm, and her side (she'd been kicked) and even from her mouth...

An arm was slid under her stomach, and she was raised up and turned over.

"Oh my god." He looked away, holding her to him. She clutched at his shirt. It was soft... "Why, Kit? Why?"

"I can't stay."

"Why? What made you think..."

She rolled her shoulder and her arm settled back into the joint.

"I can't find Yusei and be here. I can't raise a child in a gang."

"What? Kit..." Something dripped down onto her cheek. A tear...

She swallowed. "Probably killed it though...I know it..." Now she was crying.

He slid his other arm under her legs.

"Let's...Get you out of here..."

She was barely aware of anything until she realized it was four AM and she was staring at the clock, while her phone beeped she'd missed a call.

"Look..." Magician placed a hand on her stomach. "If it lives..."

"It'll be the strongest kid in existence. Or the most sickly."

"You should leave soon."

"I know, Magic-brain."

He hugged her. "Actually, it's Kyo."

The door opened and closed.

"Satou Kyo..."

She picked up the phone.

"Maya-sempai? What-"

"I've been calling every half-hour since eight o'clock! My mom found out!"

"It was going to happen sometime."

"She wants me to have an abortion! I heard her calling a doctor and asking about it! Today! She wants..." Maya broke down sobbing. "But I can't!"

Haru got up slowly, beginning to pack up things. God, she hurt everywhere. "What's your other options?"

"I can't go to a friends house, because their parents will take me back. And mom says she'll kick me out if I have it, cause I told her about my old boyfriend! What do I do?"

"Run away?"

"Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

Haru froze. She didn't mean that. Well, two is better than one... "Want me to tell what to pack?"

"That'd be nice. After all, you've run away before."

"Warm clothes you don't mind getting dirty, things a couple sizes too large, one pair of nice clothes in case we find a place and need to get jobs, money, good pair of sneakers and one or two valuables, that if required you wouldn't mind selling."

"Mhm. What else? My make-up?"

"Only if necessary. Like to cover identifying marks."

"Oh. Why?"

"It's messy, and you're going to get dirty on the road."

She grabbed the thing of pads she bought last week. Might need them.

The bag was zipped up.

"Should we bring some school books? So we can keep studying?"

"What-Why, Haru?"

"So if we're going to ever finish our high school edu-ay...That hurt... Education, we'll know at least SOMETHING."

"Fine, but I'm not bringing my stuff. That'd be theft!"

"Well then leave it to the thief!"

"Where will we meet?"

"Cherry Hill Park."

She closed the phone.

"Guess I'll keep my promise, Aika."

* * *

Kyo stood in the warehouse, staring at the bloodstains on the floor.

He would miss her, that beautiful, great, scarred fighter. And all those tales about her brother.

'You would've been a great mother.'

It was four AM, and they came back.

"Well?"

"She's gone."

A moment of silence.

"Did she say who that someone else was?"

Kyo looked up at the ceiling. He could see the sky.

"She was pregnant."

Celt stared at his hands. "I punched her in the stomach. I killed a baby!"

"Celt... It wasn't old enough to be ca-"

"Look, I ain't exactly pro-choice here!"

"Didn't think she had a boyfriend. So how-Hey Magician."

"What, Sonic?"

"You wouldn't happen to know who it was, would you?"

Kyo looked at Sonic, a brawny man who was also amazingly fast.

"Maybe."

"It **was **you."

"Maybe."

Sonic punched his jaw.

"Sorry. But you deserved that."

He felt the bruise gently.

"Yeah."

"Hope wherever she is..." Roja started.

"They have chocolate and punching bags?"

"I was thinking of something else, but that works."

They stood for another moment, staring at the blood stains on the floor. They looked like a pawprint.

Then they left.

Kit watched from a rooftop, then turned to Maya.

"Come on. Places to be."

"Like where?"

"Hmmm..." Haru examined the slowly brightening skyline. "South."

They climbed down, running off.

* * *

Yeah...Ok...

Keep an eye out for the next chapter.

Well, criticism very, very, very welcome.


	3. Chapter Two: Aunt

Tada! I'm still alive!

*Waves shameless advertising flag* For the wondering, I have a link to a blog in my profile. It's a writer's blog. This writers blog will have things about my stories, what's coming soon and what chapters are updating. There'll also be lovely little character and story tidbits.

Go look at it. After this.

* * *

This was a case of reverse expectations. Haru had expected a miscarriage, while Maya slowly became in need of a somewhat permanent residence.

Well guess what?

Maya got a miscarriage, while Haru discovered that her unborn brood was already the toughest thing yet created.

"Really," she muttered. "You should be nonexistent already. What's possessed you to live?"

"It can't answer, you know."

Maya set down a bowl in front of her.

"Thanks."

"Hey Haru-san?"

They'd got to a city, with Haru two months pregnant. They'd stood in a food bank line, and when they got to the front, well, Maya apparently fell in love. As did the other guy.

He was really polite and "way too damn kind for his own good," as Haru tended to put it. Then he would smile and laugh, thanking her.

"What?"

"Could you fix it?" He held up his laptop.

Sighing, she held out a hand, and it was handed over. She looked at it, tapped the mousepad, pressed the on/off button, etc. Then she turned it over while fishing out her set of mini screwdrivers.

"_Really, sis. Why?" Sora looked at the many pieces of the food processor, then back at his seven year old sister._

"_But I wanna know how it works!"_

_He sighed, and sat next to her. "Let's put it back together. I'll tell you as we work."_

She learned much that way. Anything they worked with, she learned about, much better than any book.

It was... Geez! He fried it!

"Need to replace this." She shoved a piece at him.

"Um. Okay."

Problem solved, she folded her hands on her stomach. Six month mark.

"I still wonder..." Maya sits too. "What are you going to do when you have the kid? Most hospitals refuse the marked."

"Well f*ck them." She stared at the clock.

"How kind."

Actually, what was she going to do? She was sixteen, marked AND pregnant. Not a good combo. And she really just didn't feel the motherly type.

Adoption?

She couldn't just toss it off like that.

Abortion was out of the question as of three months ago.

But could she really raise a kid?

No.

Due date got closer and closer and she still didn't have any compromise, a solution, anything.

Until she was in a birthing center they'd convinced to take her because a midwife had a marked brother.

She looked at the child the woman was holding. Girl, 6 1/2 pounds.

She had deep green eyes and brown-black hair.

"Kyou, you said?"

"Yes..."

Gahh... She didn't want to go through that again.

"Congratulations."

Haru accepted the bundle, and nearly broke down in tears.

Even her child couldn't run from differences. One eye was green, the other a pale blue... Like her brother's.

"_You two look so much alike. She's like your younger twin, Sora!" a cousin had exclaimed._

"_We do?" He looked surprised._

_She stamped her foot, defiant at six. "Sora an' me are noting alike! See? I have GREEN eyes!"_

Maya came in as the midwife exited.

And then she did cry.

"Take her."

"What?"

"I said take her!" She held out her daughter.

"Umm...Ok..." The blond scooped her up.

Haru stared at her hands. "I can't do this! I can't be a mother. I can't! I'm too used to being harsh, to being cruel, to-to...I can't...I'll hurt her..."

"Haru..."

"But...I also can't pass her off to a stranger. Please! Nee-san!"

Maya gently touched a baby fist. "You want me to take your child..."

"Yes."

"And raise it as mine..."

"I'm always better at playing weird relatives. Besides. You've got a clean life. People can't...Hold it against her..."

The nurse she's forgotten was in the room looked up.

"Well, if you're so sure, you can begin adoption procedures almost immediately."

'One less thing to outcast her about.'

It was a rather easy adjustment for her, once she got past the whole first few months she was forced to breast-feed. ("You can't replace the first feeding with formula, you know!") She was always more the strange aunt type anyway.

"I swear, if I hadn't seen her pregnant..." Jake had muttered.

"I know, right? It's amazing. Haru, take that screw driver away now!"

"Yusei knew how to use one at a month old!"

"Yeah well Kyou isn't Yusei!" Maya swept her up. "Are you? No you aren't. You're much better."

"You really adjusted to the mother part, Maya."

"I know. She's so great..." Jake said as she walked off.

"Marry her already, then!"

"How'd you know about that?"

[The following scene was inspired by a conversation with ForeverWildfire2.0]

When Kyou was two years old, Haru visited New Domino. She took her "niece" with her.

The first thing she did was check on her brother's apartment in the tops.

Apparently, they'd turned part of the place into a long-term hotel.

The place was thick with dust and darkness, broken and forgotten dreams left rotting and crying in deep-shadowed corners. Monsters joined it all, made of furniture and more shadows, but they were tired monsters, spirits not really in it.

A man sat on the couch. "Who-" This room didn't belong to anyone but her brother. She'd checked.

The man stood, and she recognized the once-proud figure of her father.

"Who are you, I could ask?"

"It's me, father. Haru.

Her father stepped close, examining her. Then he looked away. "You've grown up. So much."

"Yes."

They stood in the old silence. "Who's this?" He waved over her shoulder to Kyou.

"Kyou, my nie-"

"Niece? Really?" He sounded sad, as an eyebrow twitched up.

"Sorry. Daughter. She's adopted to a friend though."

Her father stared at her, then pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry. I'm the one who ran away. I'm the thief."

"No. I think we all caused it all.." They looked around. "I think your brother is the only blameless one."

"Which one?"

Her father smiled. "Which indeed."

They sat on the floor. It was easy to talk to him now, even if she still abridged everything that happened.

"So this is the creation. My granddaughter." He hugged her. "You're so precious, Kyou."

"I hope we meet again, Father. I hope mama gets better. Even if she wasn't very kind to me..."

He watched her stand. "And, Haru. Would you happen to know why we still own this place? I thought I left that key..."

She held it up sheepishly.

He laughed. "I guess I should thank you then."

She left smiling.

In a park, she looked around. Kyou was getting antsy.

A little girl with pink hair sat on a bench, crying angrily. Haru sat next to her.

"What do you want?"

"What, I can't sit here?"

Her eyes got wide. "You have a mark..."

"I do. Meet my niece."

Children make good distractions, even for children.

The girl stared at her. "Why is she small?"

"She's two years old. How old are you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Eh. Point. I'm a stranger." She leaned back, watching the water. She could see Satellite on the horizon. "So why were you crying? Some guy steal your toys?"

"No!" She started crying again, then pointed. "Them! They hate me!"

A group of girls and boys about Pink-Hair's age were playing with some cards, dueling.

Haru watched a hologram spring to life. That had seemed so magical to her. So she'd taken her disk apart, looking for the fairy.

"Why do they hate you?"

"Because I'm a witch!" she screamed.

Haru tensed. "No you're not."

"Yes I am! My cards attack people!"

"You're a physic duelist, then. Still, not exactly a witch. I got called one you know."

Pink-Hair looked up at her. "Really."

"Yep. Witch, brother curser, brother killer, baby-killer. None of it's actually true, but people love to be cruel."

"I'm a witch. I hurt people. Even my papa! I'm useless!"

Haru looked around. "Useless? What's useless? Where? Finally my quest will be complete!"

She barely even smiled.

"Oh come on! I don't invent jokes for THIS!"

Pink-Hair snuffled.

"Point out one thing, and I'll tell you its uses."

"Roses."

"Look pretty, cover scents, hiding small creatures from predators..."

"Cards."

"Being a children's card game, being taken way to seriously and turning into all of this." She waves a hand. Pink-Hair giggled.

"Fire."

"Keep us warm, it's an element, great metaphor, and looks cool in photographs."

She nodded. Then Pink looked thoughtful. "Hm...Me."

Haru stared at her a moment. "Being a physic duelist...Being a child...The proof of the love of two people..." There was a red birthmark on Pink's arm, with a very defined and sharp shape. How strange... "A player in a game of Fates, bound to follow to certain paths that not even the richest can achieve..."

Pink stared at her, wide-eyed. "No I'm not!"

"Your arm. What birthmark would be in such a shape? There's too many angles." She held up her arm, tracing it. "The Fate have marked you as a pawn. You will always be above those who have put you down."

"Pawns are for chess."

"Why yes. They are controlled by others."

"Who's the bad side?"

Haru shrugged. "I don't know. That's a matter of point of view and ethics. But a pawn has little choice. They will be thrown and tossed and pushed down certain paths. If you can stop, and make a choice at a crossroads, Fate must design a new plan."

'I feel like a tarot reader, except stranger,' she thought.

"I don't get it."

"Eh. You might one day. But listen to me." She put a hand on Pink-Hair's head. "If you can love, you aren't evil. If you can think through your actions based on how you care for others, then bad is only a perspective."

"How did you-"

"I was called the same thing. Where I went wrong was letting it get to me. Listen," she enforced. "Do me a favor. Find one thing in your life. Just one. A person, a toy, whatever. But hold onto that thing, and love that one thing. Love can conquer all, it break someone down, it can build them up. And if you can love, their words will be nothing, because what they call a witch is one incapable of such a thing."

Pink-hair stared at her wonderingly. "Really, nee-san?"

"Really. Also, it's Haru." She ruffled her hair and walked off.

*.*.*

Though she didn't know it then, years later Aki thought of those lines, over and over, as she faced Yusei. How much this man was like Haru infuriated her, that he had to be like the woman whose words dragged her from every ditch she fell into.

But when she stopped and thought, just a few weeks later, she realized the meaning.

And Haru, in a roundabout way, had been right.

*.*.*

It was hard, watching your daughter grow up and pretend she wasn't yours.

Haru reflected on this many times, as Kyou proudly showed a drawing to her "mother", as she learned how to disassemble things and instead of smiling at Haru, would go off to show Maya.

When she began to teach Kyou how to fight, Maya got pissed, so it became their bonding secret. At age ten, Kyou could fight better than most people her age.

"My classmates all say their families say violence is bad."

"Then they send them off to play Duel Monsters, which is a game that not only is violent, is subject to things that start violence. The world is full of hypocrites, child." She cut her bangs level with her jaw, then pulled the rest of Kyou's hair into a ponytail. "The best choice of action is teach children that the world is full of violence in many forms. Then teach them the times they should be violent and when they should restrain themselves. The world would be better if they did. Done."

"Thanks Aunty."

"You're welcome. Next time, get gum stuck in your hair when we have peanut butter in the house. And don't let Maya near your hair. She's not steady-handed enough and-"

"Always wants to get creative."

"Yeah. Well, go on."

She shooed her out of the bathroom, sweeping up hair on the floor. "Hai...I'm sure you fell asleep in class. It apparently also gives you a bruise on the back of your neck. Why did I have to teach you how to lie?"

She walked off to her room, sitting down to fix someone's duel disk. Idiots.

Suddenly, she wondered. Why didn't Kyou wonder how she knew this. She just seemed to accept it as part of her reality that someone had explained to her...

Setting down a screwdriver, she walked to the kitchen.

"But Haru said-"

"Haru was in a gang, remember honey? Things are a little different to her. Violence will never solve anything."

"Duel Monsters is violent and people use it to solve lots of things."

"It's just a game."

"A game that means everything to some people."

"Dance class in a hour."

Haru watched Kyou walk off.

"Why are you contradicting me?"

"Because if she actually listens to it-"

"She'll be smarter than a lot of people in this world."

"No, she'll turn into you, throwing punches on the street!"

"...You don't hear a word she says." Haru returned to her room.

Sighing deeply, she finished the disk, taking the bus to the shop she worked for and dropping it off.

On the way back, she stopped in front of Kyou's dance center.

She'd been forced into that horrible pink tutu again. Haru sighed, waiting for the bus that was always late.

"Hey, it's Twinkle Shoes!"

"Hey Twinkle Shoes! Nice haircut!"

Haru stepped next to her. "Thanks. Took a while since there was that gum, but it was worth it. You wouldn't happen to know how it got in her hair, would you?" She raised an eyebrow at the boy.

He gulped, face a mix of admiration and fear. "N-No."

"Hm. Too bad. Ah, she stuck you in the tutu again?"

She sniffled, nodding.

"Well, don't worry. Dancing helps with fighting. If you last through this, I'll teach you a new trick, 'k?"

Instantly cheered and having gained new respect from the boy all in one go, she nodded.

"My bus is here, so I gotta go. Be good, don't kick anyone in the face again."

The look on the kid's face was the best.

Later, after a lesson that included getting out of a twisted arm, a way to down someone, and lead pipe fencing ('I'm teaching this to a twelve-year-old. Damn, I must have felt sorry for her'), Kyou was relaxing in Haru's room.

"Hey Haru?"

"Yeah?"

"What was it like in a gang?"

"Not pretty. Don't join one if you can help it."

"So why did you?"

Maybe it was time for this...

"It's come to my attention that Maya is trying to make me look insane or a fool. I don't know what she's told you, but this is how it goes. I ran away..."

Kyou's eyes turned varying degrees of wide during the tale.

"So you were pregnant? What happened to the kid?"

Haru stared at the wall. She wasn't ready to tell that yet.

"Aunty?"

Haru looked at her sadly. 'She turned into you, who doesn't know her real mother is right in front of her,' she thought.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Letting Kyou believe the death idea, she hugged her, and let her go.

"Mama's a liar."

And she was gone.

Haru stared at the wall for hours. 'Will I ever be able to tell? If I did...It would break her...And I didn't tell why I ran away the first time...Erg...'

The next day, she stared at the newspaper.

In New Domino.

Was a tournament.

And one of the competitors was from Satellite.

It was Yusei.

Haru had a motorcycle that her dad had sent her (How he got the address was a mystery, but he turned up and handed it over). It had since then been turned into a D-Wheeler because she had too much time on her hands.

It was painted pure black, decaled with red, and was made of pure awesome, in Haru's opinion.

She tended to take the bus because she usually didn't need to get anywhere that fast.

Pulling together a few items, she gave Maya a "Going somewhere for a few days Kthnkxbai" and was gone.

It was lovely to be out in the air, driving for hours, feeling the wind in her face...

The mark carefully hidden, no one questioned a woman on a D-Wheel going to the Duel Arena. No one noticed anything about her in the crowd, despite how she dressed. It was lovely.

The duels however...

The cruelty, the anger. The crowd overflowed with it, directing it to Yusei and...

And...

Aki Izayoi, Pink-Hair Girl.

She was tense the entire duel, wanting Yusei to win, wanting Aki to be saved. 'Don't you remember? Come on Kitty! Damn it! Why did you give in?'

She was a pawn now, and Haru could see it, that she had found life as a pawn an escape.

'Come on... Somehow...'

She barely noticed how the attacks whipped around the stadium, instead more focused on the feelings.

'Her dragon. It's like...It's crying...Not roaring...'

After that duel, she left the stadium seat, watching the two of them interact, even stalking Yusei a bit.

'No. He's not ready yet. He doesn't know enough.'

She watched the tournament to the end and drove home.

"So where did you go?"

"I saw Yusei. That...Was...Strange..."

"Did you meet him? I want his autograph!"

Haru ruffled Kyou's head. "'Fraid not. Sorry bud."

Leaving Kyou faking sadness, she lay on her bed.

'Found him, Aika. Found him.'

* * *

But we're not over yet! One more chapter, and an epilogue!

Enjoy your dose of family childness and secrets? Good!

Review. You get internet cookies!

And probably a review on at least one of your stories!


	4. Chapter Three: Haru

The last chapter before the epilogue! This chapter ties our ends.

* * *

"Hey," a voice said from an alleyway.

Haru turned a cold eye to it. "What?"

A hand lashed out, grabbing Kyou's arm.

"Nothing much, Amaya. Just a little revenge for my brother."

'This guy is sixteen years too late.'

"I spent years looking for you and planning what I'm going to do. And it's so simple. Right?"

A chorus of voices. Haru felt a slight chill down her spine. They had to go walking at night, huh? They had to be heading home late, huh?

Kyou lashed out, hitting the man somewhere, but since her eyes hadn't adjusted, her angle was off. Her other wrist was grabbed. She swore quietly.

Haru slid her hands into her pockets. Unless necessary, she's always kept her knuckles in there. Carefully, she slid the band over one fist and the metal over another. She stepped into the alley after Kyou.

"Don't worry Kyou. We won't be late."

She kept her voice calm, cheer trying to rise.

The man slammed Kyou against the wall.

"Will she? Oh I think she will. She's going to stay and keep me company."

He grabbed her bangs and slammed her again. Kyou's eyes rolled back.

'Dammit. I never taught her...DAMMIT! Motherfucker!' Curses rolled around her head.

"Right or left?"

He looked at her.

"Left."

The spiked knuckles went into his throat.

"Don't touch my daughter, bitch-son."

His body slid to the ground.

"Well? Come and get me."

Six men. 'Heh. Let's see if I still got it.'

She went in with a will, almost surprised herself at how well she was doing. She was almost better.

About the second guy, Kyou was awake and joining the fight. Back to back, fists flew and blood flowed. Haru stopped Kyou from taking down the last man.

Watching his retreating back, Kyou said one thing. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you let him go?"

"To take word back to his buddies. Fear is a good weapon. Come on. Tomorrow I'll teach you how to get out of that grip."

"Shouldn't we-"

"Yes, I'm calling Security."

Two hours later, they were a front page news article.

"Aunt and Niece take down gang men" screamed from the title, the article talking about how they were savagely attacked and defended themselves, and they only talked for a sentence about the spiked knuckled and brass knuckles, praising them for taking the men's weapons to defend themselves.

*.*.*

Kyo stared at the article, in his apartment. The pictures, mostly.

"She..."

The entire gang had heard last night about how some guys from the Swords Gang had disappeared, and only one had come back that night, babbling about how she was too strong, and her daughter wasn't touchable and lots of things that didn't make sense.

But this?

"She's alive, and..." Fingertips brushed over a photo of Kyou standing next to her "aunt."

"Her too..."

They were so similar. Kyou was three or four inches shorter, but...

They both had dark hair, matching shades of green eye, wearing dark colors. Haru was practically wearing her gang uniform!

They both stood balanced in a fencing stance, both strong, both...

Both staring at the camera with that defiant smirk he remembered too well...

A knock at the door. He opened it and looked at Rook.

"What?"

Rook stepped in, placed both hands on Kyo's shoulders and said four words that got him a punch to the jaw. "Congratulations. You're a father."

After, he held an ice pack to a sizable bruise and sat by the window. "But seriously. You know what this means."

"...I broke a rule, I have a kid and if I ever see her she'll murder me?"

"Yes, yes and yes, but no."

"Celt can stop feeling guilty so he won't have to pick up any more pregnant stray cats?"

"Yes, but again..."

"Ok, I'm lost."

"For starters, we have to explain this to the gang. Second, the police, security, whatever you call them, will eventually realize all the things match up to Amaya "Kit" Hawkins, and then she's screwed over. She's finally got a life in a better direction and it's about to crash."

"I wonder why she's her aunt..."

"Magician..."

"Sorry Rook. And...You're right again. Damn. Damn gang loyalty too. So what's the plan?"

"We play hacker."

*.*

That night was a very...strange...one. They hired a man known only as Fox, a Jack-Of-All-Trades, who went to work.

All it took was three changes in wording, the addition of a letter and a little bit of 'shop work on the photo.

"Perfect."

"Don't see why you guys wanted me to-"

"Gang loyalty, Fox-san. There are some things that can't be explained."

So now she was Amaya "Kite" Hawkins. Heh.

*.*.*

All Haru knew was that Kyou was going through some boxes, looking for some things for a school project. It just might have been that they were boxes she was told not to touch. Who knows.

All she knew was that Maya walked by Kyou staring at a sheet of paper that she had kept hidden since she'd got them.

Kyou's adoption papers.

Her hands shaking, Kyou had set it down, pulling out the next paper.

Her first birth certificate.

She stared at the names in bold and then ran out of the room.

Haru was working on a laptop, when the door burst open behind her.

"You!"

Haru shrugged, ignoring the screaming tone. "Me."

"You..You're...You're my mother and you never TOLD me?"

Haru felt her insides ice over. Setting down the laptop and moving it out of range so it wouldn't be thrown, she turned partially. "Maybe. Why does it matter anymore?"

"But..." Crying, Kyou collapsed on the floor. "So...all this time...you've all been lying...to me."

Haru squeezed her own eyes shut against the tears. This wasn't how she'd wanted to talk about this...

"Look, Kyou..."

"And you got all sappy and named me after my dad, too. How cute," she said darkly.

"Ugh...Look, before you're going to be difficult, can you listen for a little while?"

"..Fine."

Haru started at the beginning. The very beginning, with Zero Reverse, and ended with her final decision, to give her up.

"Please understand, Kyou. It was hard-"

"I...I'm sure..it..w-was... That's why..you decided...the second she walked in!" she sobbed.

"Kyou-" she began.

"Just passed me off! Never told me anything! Kept it hidden with the rest of your stupid little secrets!"

"Kyou-!"

"That's why I don't know anything about my dad, when it turns out you could tell me everything about him! I...I...ERG!" She ran out of the room.

"Kyou!"

The front door slammed.

"DAMMIT!" She slid to the floor. "Why..."

She stared at a toy hiding under her bed. A Red Eyes Black Dragon.

So was this it?

Probably.

"_When there are no ties left, Haru, that is the time to move on, because it is hard to reforge those."_

_She nodded. "Ok, I guess. Don't see why-"_

"_She isn't your friend anymore. Move on."_

"_But-"_

"_There are other people in the world, 'Ru. Find em."_

*.*.*

When Kyou made it back later, still upset but now dry-eyed, she found something sitting on her dresser in a now empty house.

A note held down by a set of brass knuckles engraved with * K I T.

It simply read _I__'__m__sorry._

Turning it over, she found an address.

_No guarantee he still lives there, but you can try anyway._

She ran to the garage.

The bike was gone.

Taking a shuddering breath, she went back to her room.

The address hovered in her brain, and suddenly she threw things in a bag, pausing only when she heard a voice from her bed.

A ghost was reclining there. The strangest man she had ever seen. He looked like the great Yugi Motou, but not quite. There was something...

"Think things through, child. Those may be the only things you ever take away from this house, if you can never return."

"Who-"

He smiled. Something about it was familiar.

"No one but a helpful ghost, child."

She gulped in air, pulling everything out and repacking, before shouldering it all and taking a length of pipe she always had hidden under her bed.

"What about n-"

He was gone.

Unable to shake the feeling of connection to him, she beat it.

Somewhere along the line, her family was connected to Yugi Motou, but this man...No, that wasn't Yugi she had seen back there.

Then who was he?

She didn't want to know.

Halfway down the block, Kyou looked back. The little house in the middle of many little houses looked so lonely, the little sparks of life gone.

And she smiled, not caring.

*.*.*

Haru let the wind flow through her. It was sharp and cold, yet refreshing, like her memories.

"_You know, little Haru, when you were born..." Her mother laughed, eyes bright in remembrance, "Sora glanced at you and said, 'Mom, I think they gave us the wrong kid. She's not smiling.'"_

_She looked at Sora. His head was bowed in embarrassment, apparently knowing something was coming next. _

"_But the second he leaned over the little basket again, you burst into the biggest smile the nurse had ever seen. And I've never seen without it ever again." Her mother nuzzled her face, tucking in the blanket._

_The minute she left, Sora petted her head. "Sleep tight, sis."_

So long ago... Such a gentle time, when her world was her family and whatever she and her cards invented.

"_Um...Honey, Sora...Come look at this..."_

"_Holy-!"_

"_...You can take apart a duel disk? I wanna do that!"_

_She looked at Sora. "I was looking for the fairy. But there's only wires."_

_He sat next to her. "Well, yeah. That's how it works. There's no fairy casting a spell when you play a card."_

"_Oh. But then-"_

"_Let's just put it back together. You still have the screws, right?"_

"_...Um...Screws?"_

_He groaned, to their parents smiles._

And that soon progressed to

"_Sora! She took apart the food processor!"_

"_Sor~a! Honey, she took apart your laptop" "Shit!" "Language!"_

"_Sora! She took apart the remot-No wait, she's putting it back together."_

A tear slipped down her cheek, caught by the wind, followed by a small smile.

_She pushed open Sora's door gently. "Sora?"_

"_Hajbfamam..." he muttered._

"_You okay?" He'd come home late, long after mom and dad had been asleep._

"_Head hu-urts..." He blinked at her. "Hi Haru. There-ow..." He clutched his head. "Never mind. Talking hurts."_

_He stumbled by her, trying to walk quietly. She followed, watching him put as much sugar as possible into three cups of coffee and drink it, before ducking into the bathroom for half an hour. She put a towel by the door and went to go imagine one of the dragons on his wall was flying._

_Eventually, he came in, hair dripping._

"_Thanks."_

_Then he kicked her out._

'You were an idiot, sometimes. But weren't we all?'

_It seemed every time this happened, she got mysterious gifts, cards, or candy. Soon, she had a small collection of Duel Monster cards, fifteen, that had been left mysteriously by her pillow or in her school bag._

_One morning, a Saturday, she turned on the coffeemaker, read through one of the much-too-easy books her mother bought her, then opened Sora's door._

_A teen girl was half curled against him, both barely dressed._

"_Hm!" Her eyes focused-almost-on her._

_A little too young to quite see the entire problem, she sighed. "I'll get the coffee."_

_Sora waved a hand._

_She got a second gift that time, a book in English, a military steampunk novel, also known as "Not considered in what you buy ten-year-olds". Though Aika never admitted to buying it, she did tend to ask her opinion of it._

_And one night, Sora didn't come home, sliding back at six A.M._

"_Where were you? I was worried!" Haru clung to his leg._

"_You, sis, wouldn't understand. Cookie?"_

_She took it, immediately distracted._

_Then she went and disassembled the house computer again, before dusting pieces and putting it together._

'You and Aika were so attached once you met. To think it took you getting drunk. Would you have ever met without that?'

_Just a few weeks later, just seconds after Haru popped open the window, he leaned out, watching the remains of the night before spatter on the thin strip of grass below. "I...Am never...Doing that...Again...Ugh...What did I eat?"_

_She peeked. "I'd say...At least two types of Doritos, alcohol, some kind of mushroom...You shouldn't mix those two, by the way. Websites say so. Two relaxants is really dangerous."_

"_Oh. That explains the multi-color mist. And...It looked like her make-up was neon...Why was that so attractive?"_

_Haru shrugged. "I dunno. Secret neon fetish?"_

_He glanced at her. "Who taught you-Oh. Yeah. Me." Taking the cup of coffee, he drank it slowly. _

"_So I guess the graduation party was fun. How's Aika?"_

_He glanced at the clock. "As hungover as me. I'll call in...Two hours? Anyway, thanks, sis."_

_She shrugged. "I guess. Hey, you'll send me things, from college, right?"_

"_Yes, sis, I'll send you things from college. And it'll have more parts than the TV and computer combined."_

Was that really it? The last time she exchanged words with her brother for a month till he left? And the last time she saw him (Though he sent things, true to his word as always) till...

"_You...SORA! HOW YOU BE ENGAGE-Aika? He fainted? Every time it get's mentioned? Oh, I'm sure, honey. How many needles you hold up? Syringes come with six-inch needles? Hm...Maybe I should get one of those. Haru! Sora's engaged! An-Really? That's what you think, missy. This wedding happens ASAP, if I plan it myself." Mum decidedly hung up the phone._

_Haru, in the act of setting down her backpack, gasped. "He's engaged? But he never mentioned that in his last email! Not fair."_

_Mother managed to plan a wedding in a matter of two months. It was beautiful, her parents sobbed, Sora fainted twice beforehand, there were more college students than she thought possible, some guy extended a work offer to Sora and Aika, and..._

_Once again, the last time she spoke to them for two more years._

'And that's where Yusei comes in.'

_The room was nice, blue wallpaper and white and lavender accents. Brown curtains were pulled aside from the window. Sora was leaning against the wall in a position that kept an eye on Aika and the little bed at the same time._

_She glanced at it. A tiny bundle, with black hair, staring blankly at the ceiling. A tiny frown on his features, Haru sighed. "Little sour face. Look at him frowning. You get the wrong kid or something?"_

_Aika looked ready to murder her, but Sora smirked. "Nope."_

_There was a hair extender clipped to her bangs, a pink feather dangling from it. Pushing it aside, she leaned over the bed by her mother. The feather dangled down and he smiled, eyes closing. Reaching up, his tiny fingers reached blindly._

More tears even as she smiled, watching the blur of New Domino rise up. Reaching a black gloved hand up under her helmet visor, she wiped the tears away.

_Dragons statues and drawings scattered among papers, the apartment was a mess when Haru and her mother set to work. They dug among the work, stacking and straightening, discovering old treasures, and when they sat back hours later, Haru looked at her applauding brother. "You kept that idiotic dragon I drew."_

_He looked at the ceiling. "What idiot dragon?"_

"_The one that's part rose."_

"_You mean this?" He waved something in front of her._

_It was a card, showing that dragon, but streamlined, drawn in her brother's style. _

_She grabbed at it._

"_Sorry. It's part of my work," he teased._

Haru looked ahead, eyes wide. 'That...That was...Black Rose...' She smiled. 'Well I'm glad it got a bit of actual use.'

Now in the midst of city traffic, she anchored herself, watching the road.

It was a semi truck, heading faster than anything close to the speed limit. Even as she watched, a young man, long green hair bound back in a ponytail, ran out in front of it to throw a boy who had tripped at the centerline to safety. He tripped himself, the boy landing in the arms of a young woman, also with green hair, and the truck sped up.

'What the hell?'

Without thinking, Haru gunned it, reaching out an arm to him. 'Please don't let him be heavy.'

Her left arm wrapped around his chest, pulling him up against her as she threw her weight to the right, steering in another part of her mind entirely. He grabbed the handlebars as she began to slowly apply the break.

"Around the corner," she said in his ear. He nodded and complied.

They zipped through three red lights as she got down to a reasonable speed, finally coming to a stop at a park whose railing overlooked the water.

'Once, there was no view of the water here. But I guess...It's kind of pretty.'

The young man slid out from her loose hold, turning to face her.

"Thanks! I froze up out there."

Haru nodded, not quite seeing him.

"My name's-"

"Lua!"

Three people came running towards them, two adults and the green haired young woman. They had to be twins, no older than fifteen.

"Lua! Oh! Are you alright, honey?" The adult woman checked him over, probably the mother. The father looked at her.

"Thank you so much, I..." His voice faded to the background. Lua had such a wide smile, like nothing had happened. So relaxed.

"If anything I ca-If you want to be pa-"

Haru held up a hand, looking at the water again. "It's nothing. I'm just glad he's safe." She smiled at Lua. "Just be more careful."

Then she took off into the road again. 'I'll just check Aika's place first. Then I'll start searching.'

There was something about New Domino, this time. Some lighter air, a pristine feeling. She drove along the streets, watching at how they almost reflected the sunlight.

'It's ridiculous.' She pulled up in front of the area surrounding the building. And despite the sunlight, she shivered, thinking about that long ago night...

'It's been a long time since I was thirteen.'

"E-Excuse me, um, Bike-san."

She looked at a man, barely twenty. "Yes?"

"You need identification to get in to the housing side. Sorry, it's just that some of the tenants are suspicious, 'specially since-"

"Sure." She felt so strangely calm today. She pulled her wallet out, pulling out her card as a red D-Wheel came up beside her.

"Oh, hi, Yusei-san!"

She nearly dropped the card. Instead, she casually held a finger over the surname as she draped her wrist on her windshield.

"Hey." The man pulled off his helmet, revealing wild hair that settled into something like spider legs.

"You got your bike out of storage..."

"Yeah." He smiled lightly, and Haru thought of her brother. It was the same.

The man looked at the card. "Er, do you have the, uh..." He pointed at his cheek. She nodded, then pulled off her helmet, settling it on her lap. She shook her head wildly.

The man picked up a small scanner, running it over the thief mark. "Er, sorry 'bout this. Protocol and all that. Er..." It blipped. "Thanks..." His eyes got wide. "F-F-"

He fainted. Haru shot out an arm, grabbing his shirt and pulling him forward to drape over her bike. Then she stood, slipping an arm around him and dragging the man into the building he'd been in.

Behind her was a sound. She whirled, ducking under the edge of the sharpened old-style duel disk.

"Who are you, why are you using my name?" he hissed.

She smirked, walking to lean against her bike. "Because, little Yusei. I'm your aunt. It's nice to meet you." She bowed, ever so slightly.

*.*.*

Two days later, Kyou sat on top of a dumpster, looked at a box of china next to her and methodically began to toss pieces, one by one, at the wall.

There was no point in the action, really, but she was bored and it made noise.

"Hoi."

She glanced to her left. A man stood there, wearing a black hoodie and camouflage pants. Much like the outfits her au-MOTHER-wore on occasion.

"What? This your dumpster?"

"No, you're making a mess."

She shrugged. "So? Who cares?" She glanced at the streetlights, orange lights creating little pools on worn concrete. If anything happened out here, she'd die alone.

"Me. Duck."

A second man flew past, wearing a different outfit and colors, fear in his eyes as a third man followed. They both slid on the broken china, the second man falling. He leapt up with a plate shard in his eye, screaming.

For about thirty seconds. A punch to his stomach cut him off.

"Oh."

"Hey Celt. Who's the kid?"

The first man shrugged. "Dunno. But I think she needs to go home."

"Good idea," the second said. "It's dangerous out here."

Kyou jumped down, ducking her head. "I'm fine."

"Come on, kid." A heavy hand came down on her shoulder. "It's not safe. Go on home. That's a warning."

Warning.

She punched him in the stomach and took off running.

"You blew it, Celt! They ain't gonna trust speech like that!"

She growled to herself, skidding around the corner deeper into the alleyway.

"Catch her!"

Pounding footsteps. She'd have to gain dista-

She crashed into a man ahead of her and fell back. He wore the same outfit as the man who got china in his eye.

"Heh. Hello, pretty."

Her hood had fallen.

"Why don't you come with me?"

"No!"

She bounced up, looking back and forth for a way out. If only this was an action movie.

He chuckled. "Would you look at those eyes. Green and blue. My favorite colors."

She slid under his arm and ducked into the crossroads as Celt punched him.

Then she took the right path, seeing the people fighting to her left.

"What tha-"

"Hey, it's a kid!"

"Celt!"

"It's a girl!"

If it had rained, she would have been sliding, she was going so fast.

It was a dead end. Kyou whirled, hoping to see a dumpster to climb to a window, or a fence, or-

The dumpster was behind the man.

"Hey. It's okay. It didn't mean how it sounded. Come on, honey," he said softly, approaching.

'Beware.'

Swallowing, she took the risk, running to him and trying to duck past.

He'd learned. He whirled, reaching, as she turned. The back of his hand sent her into the brick wall.

*.*

She was being carried. She was being carried on someone's back like a little kid, their wrists under her knees and her arms over their shoulders.

"Celt, why the kid?"

"Er, well...I accidentally knocked her out."

"So...You brought her with you."

"Yeah."

"Oh come on. Doesn't she have a wallet and address or something? A school I.D card?"

"Er...Yes..."

"But?" A new voice asked.

"It's not for this city."

Silence.

"And...Well..." She felt him shake with laughter. "Who can pass up the chance of a reunion?"

"Reunion with who, Celt?"

A few barking laughs. "Your daughter, Magician! She's the girl from the news!"

Magician! Her...Her...

The new voice laughed too. "Tell her I know she's awake. I saw her breathing pause."

"Yeah, right, sure she is."

"Aw, somebody feeling hopeless?" Celt.

"I meant she's not awake! But yeah."

"She's kinda cute."

"But young."

"Magic has a KID? With WHO?"

"An old member, Riff. You-"

"But how?"

"-Never knew her."

"Her? You guys let a-" Riff was cut off by Magician.

"She got in the same way as anybody else, it was fair."

His tone was flat, no room for disagreement.

She was set against a wall or box. "Anyway, we'll let her sleep. Then you'll see."

"Yeah, a terrified kid we'll have to take home."

"And swear to silence."

She cracked open an eyelid. Her head throbbed with pain, but she could think clearly. They were far enough. She didn't think any of them were fast.

'He's not it. There's no way. Shouldn't have bothered.'

Then she gently shoved herself into balancing on her calves, took a quiet deep breath and pushed off, running to the open door.

"She's awake!"

"Damn fast!"

Magician was silent, however, cutting her off by standing in the exit. They stared at each other.

She could see it, the planes of her face on his own, the deep green, almost black that her left eye sometimes got. The shape of his eyes...

He stared back, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. A single tear gathered in the silence. When it was ready to spill over, he wiped away and reached out, hugging her. Her ear pressed against his heartbeat.

She thought of her childhood, the many times she wanted a father to stand next to her and burst into wailing infantile sobs. One of his arms hugged her head gently, palm resting on her scalp. "Shh... It's okay, buddy. Shhh..."

Behind her, one of the roughest, cruelest gangs in Japan shed disguised tears.

She'd come home.

* * *

The epilogue is left. Hold on a slight bit...

Please review, tell me everything you think, need, or want to about this story.


	5. Epilogue: End of the Hallway

Yusei hadn't wanted to believe it, at first. It couldn't be. He had no real family. None. He had Martha, he had his old friends, but he didn't have...

Dammit, that smirk was like looking in a mirror. He lowered his left arm slowly, but kept on his duel disk.

"You don't believe me, and I don't blame you. If you want proof, follow me."

Yusei glanced down at the reader at his feet. It still blinked, Fudo Haru flashing in light lettering. He reached down, pressing a button. The file opened in the form of a hologram, the flat panel transparent. Holding it in one hand, he began to read as he pushed his own D-Wheel.

If this was fake, she'd done a damn good job. Everything looked in order. But...

"I don't have family," he whispered.

She'd parked while he was still walking.

"Pole!"

He looked up and nearly walked into the ceiling reinforcement. Putting the reader in his helmet, he concentrated on parking his D-Wheel in a generally legal position. 'I don't have family. It'll be a lie, and she'll be out of here, and I can get on with my life.'

"Come on, Yusei." She was walking to the stairs. Yusei followed, hoping he wasn't glaring.

Several floors later, he began detailing her appearance for a police report. Black hair, graying, cut short, barely chin length. Sticks out from head at all angles, except up and down. Green eyes, slightly tanned, 5'7, green camo pants, black hoodie, looked about age thirty.

His legs were starting to burn when they stopped. She stopped to consider the tenant list by the door with a strange smile. "They never did change it." She pointed to a little dusty plate, reading Itou Aika. "They never had time, even with all their screwing around."

Yusei blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Just talking to myself." Then she opened the door, stepping into the brightly lit hallway. Yusei winced, following. He'd climbed sixteen flights of stairs before it hurt, but he used to be able to do more. Damn, time to exercise again.

He'd been on this floor before. The twins had lived in it temporarily with their parents, before they'd decided they wanted to live somewhere with less neighbors.

And, of course, he'd heard all about Itou Aika who had never visited and had never been seen anything of in all of seventeen years. Most they'd gotten was a father-in-law and his daughter dropping in. It was a favorite past-time of the building to wonder at who this woman might be.

Except the few who'd been there the longest, with secret smiles and sad faces, who never talked about "Dear little Aika and her husband," and gave Yusei pitying looks.

Haru walked quickly to the end of the hall, where the apartment was located. Yusei gave her a look. "So what's important about this door?"

She gave a very familiar secretive smirk. "I doubted you'd know."

She pulled a key from her pocket, unlocking it. Then she gently pushed the door open.

It was a room coated in dust. It lay thick over the furniture, the carpet, even the windows, where the curtains hadn't protected them.

It must've been a bright room, once upon a time. There was a couch, facing a bank of windows, tables covered with papers and books, abandoned childrens toys...

And photographs. Yusei picked up the closest one, using a jacket sleeve to wipe away the dust. Haru was already gently opening the curtains, allowing sunlight to quietly ease away the tired shadows.

It was his father, younger. He'd seen that face, in photographs and even a few videos. He was laughing, caught in the act of giving a noogie to a girl who couldn't be older than nine. A black-haired young girl...

He set the photo back down, walking farther into the place. A short hallway showed him four doors. Two were open. He turned to the one on his left.

It was an infant's room. A crib had a mobile of dragons hanging over it, a round mirror in a corner, shelves of stuffed animals, some ripped apart at the seams, even a tiny bookcase in a corner, cardboard books displaying colorful titles. Yusei stepped into the room, looking down at the green carpet, then the pictures on the walls.

Some were just scribbles, like someone had helped a baby hold a crayon, then dragged it haphazardly across the paper. Some were photos. One was a drawing, of a dragon much like Black Rose Dragon. But the head was larger, more cat-like, the eyes large and white, with light pink irises. The black was more of an outline than actual color. Less smooth, less detailed, and so childish. He reached out to where it was, awkwardly posed in constant flight towards the light switch, letting his fingers graze it. Adhesive on the tape holding it disintegrated at the light pressure, and it drifted to the ground. Yusei snatched it up, forcing himself to be gentle so he wouldn't wrinkle it. He looked at the back.

_Drew__this__for__you,__Sora!_was scrawled in heavy child print. _She__'__s__called__Garden__Rose!_

Someone at a later date, with a ball point pen, had added something in small print to the corner.

_Haru, age ten. Possible card key?_

His legs felt shaky. Yusei reached out a hand, leaning against the wall as he stared at the dark green carpet where his footprints had shuffled the dust.

"Here." Something appeared over his shoulder. "Been sitting in my wallet for twenty years now."

He took it carefully.

It was the girl from the other photo, lying on her side. She'd propped her head on one hand, grinning at a camera. The other made a peace sign, or perhaps victory, depending how you looked at it.

The other person was a little black haired infant, holding a miniature screwdriver tight in his fists as he stared at a laptop screen. Something was stamped in the photo corner in english.

"Your mother tried to kill me right after we took that. Sora laughed though."

Yusei turned slowly, looking carefully at the photo, then the woman in front of him. The same eyes, same hair-if cut short, same face thinned and angled by adulthood.

Yusei had never had any sort of closure over his parents deaths. He hadn't needed it. He'd had nothing of theirs, and they'd been gone long before his earliest memories. There'd been little to scar the image of them being perfect far-off beings, ones he'd never know.

But now...He was surrounded by a whirlwind of memories and photographs and even a person that showed them so living, so human, so...So close he could almost reach them, see their scars and smiling faces, yet they were always a few steps away, feet pulled by Death out of his reach.

Tears found their way down his face, and he tried to wipe them away, stand up from where he'd fallen, go _away_ from here and its joyful heartbreak of memories. But he couldn't. Tears dashed from his cheeks were only replaced by more, and his body wouldn't respond to the command to move.

Instead, strong gentle arms circled him, allowing him to cry on a shoulder.

"It's alright. It's alright... Shhh..."

A brunette woman stood in the doorway to one of the closed rooms. She could see them from where she was posed. Sighing, she twirled a strange of pale brown hair around a fingertip and turned. "Took you long enough."

Aika vanished through the door.

* * *

And it's done. Thanks, guys, for sticking with this little thing. And if I can pull ideas from somewhere, I can make a sequel! (PM ideas? I take suggestions!)

To anon #1: "Awesome! I had doubts at first but seriously..."

Aw! Thanks! I know, not the most promising summary XD Glad you read it anyway. And yes, Kyou-chan will hopefully be happy. Especially since now she knows her parentage.

Anon #2: "I really like how in this story Kyou isn't all like.."

Yeah, I hate when people do that XD It's not realistic for someone to be all calm and happy that they've been lied to their entire life. Glad it perked you up, and that it was good enough to break your case of crappy-fic induced depression. And thanks :)

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